Pennies on the dollar: Do not write for free

Almost a year ago when I started to work on becoming a freelance writer, I thought to write for free as a method to develop the clips'. Among all the ups and downs, I learned an important lesson - you can write pro bono, but do not write for free!

If you are really interested in writing only to build your portfolio, there are a few major points that will help you do it and help your portfolio slightly. I'd like to discuss a few that I found with you.

Associated Content (sometimes referred to as 'AC' on freelancer sites)

http://www.associatedcontent.com

Associated Content allows you to publish several articles on a variety of subjects on their website for buyers to purchase. You can choose to sell the exclusive rights - which means you can not use the article again - or just use. AC tends to have a high acceptance rate, and once you are accepted, you get paid quickly enough through Paypal. The downside is the very low rate - the reports I have seen on various freelance boards range between $ 4-10. This is better than free, but not much.

Content constant (sometimes referred to as 'CC' sites freelancer)

http://www.constant-content.com/ or contact me at my website through a link to writing.com affiliate

Similar to AC, DC will allow you to set the offer price. This means that you can choose to earn more than $ 4 per item, but that your article may or may not get sold. As AC, DC has an editorial board which makes the writing is of a decent quality. You also pay via Paypal. However, as your articles remain online, you can be paid for the item after it is forgotten - this can be both a plus and a minus. The best thing is generally examined in the section 'required content' to see what buyers are looking for. You can also browse the 'recently sold' section to get an idea of ​​what types of items are purchased.

Families.com Blogs

http://www.families.com ('blog for us' click)

Families.com blog offers a payment once you have applied. Writers can earn $ 3 per 300 word blog + with a minimum of 5 blogs a week and a maximum of 3 blogs a day. Writers are paid monthly by check, and after 90 days, earning $ 4 per item. All rights are sold families.com. In short, if you write only five blogs a week, 4 weeks a month, or $ 60-80/month. If you write up to 3 blogs per day for a 30 day month, you earn $ 270-360/month.

Writing for cash (sometimes referred to as a freelancer sites WFC)

http://www.writeforcash.com

Although there are no applications that take, I recommend checking periodically. WFC pays $ 10-15 per article and assigns them to you. Therefore, it is guarenteed to make at least $ 10 per item, more than you tend to gain with AC and guarenteed, which is more than can be said for DC. The last time I checked, had a maximum of 20 articles per month, which puts a cap your gains, but that is basically an article the day of the week anyway.

All of these sites pay a few cents compared to what you can earn as a freelance writer. However, an alternative is more profitable to write your clips for free, and can be used as a supplement to a full or part-time freelance career. Keep in mind that most of these sites to purchase all rights, or in some form to limit so that you can not sell reprints elsewhere. However, if you can enable other articles fast with little research, can be a good way to make money while sending queries out - not to mention a good way to build your resume .......